The Belgian Thierry Neuville, leader of the WRC world championship, took control of the Kenya rally at the end of the first special stage on Thursday, ahead of the Estonian Ott Tänak, both on Hyundai. He only beat Tänak by a tenth of a second during this only stage of the day, run in the “super-special” format which sees the competitors compete in pairs over a short loop.
3rd place went to Kalle Rovanperä (Toyota), double reigning world champion who is only competing in a few WRC world championship events this year.
Neuville leads Briton Elfyn Evans (Toyota) by three points after two rounds of the championship. Evans could not do better than 6th on Thursday, 1.7 seconds behind Neuville.
Even if Hyundai is off to a good start to the season with the victories of Neuville in Monte-Carlo and the Finn Esapekka Lappi in Sweden, the Toyotas are favorites in Kenya after winning the last three editions of the African event which made its return to WRC calendar in 2021.
The “Safari Rally”, 3rd round of 13 in the championship, is considered the most difficult on the calendar. This year it takes place in the middle of the rainy season which makes the tracks muddy. The 19 special stages covering 367.76 timed kilometers take place around Lakes Naïvasha and Elmenteita, in the middle of the Rift Valley, at around 2,000 meters above sea level. It must end on Sunday.
1. Thierry Neuville/Martijn Wydaeghe (BEL/Hyundai) 3:19.9
2. Ott Tänak/Martin Järveoja (EST/Hyundai) à 0.1
3. Kalle Rovanperä/Jonne Halttunen (FIN/Toyota) à 0.8
4. Takamoto Katsuta/Aaron Johnston (JPN-IRL/ Toyota) at 0.9
5. Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (FIN/Hyundai) à 1.5